5 Signs That It’s Time for a New UX Design Agency

Do you often hang up the phone after speaking to your current UX Design agency feeling like they just don’t get it?

Does the agency seem to want to force your brand to fit inside the narrative, design, and content strategy they’ve created — instead of making a bespoke plan based on your needs?

Do you wonder if your agency actually understands — or even cares about understanding — your local market?

You already know that all of these things are red flags.

Let’s take a look at the other potential signs that it’s time to move on from your current creative agency.

1. They Don’t Seem To Understand Your Brand

One of the biggest signs that it’s time to move on from your current UX Design agency?

If you feel like no one from the agency is sitting down with you to really get to know the story of your brand.

A creative agency will look for what makes your brand unique, and use that to create an incredible narrative that pulls your target market into your website, social media pages, and of course, your products/services.

Your brand’s story will influence every facet of your marketing, and affects everything from your website design, to your social media efforts to content that your market would be the most likely to respond to and more.

Maybe you started a Hawaiian shirt brand because your grandfather grew up in Oahu and used to paint hibiscus flowers on his friends surfing trunks. Or maybe you named your brand after an obscure scientist that hardly anyone knows about.

Maybe your brand’s logo even has an awesome, secret history behind it, that you haven’t let out of the bag yet because you’re waiting for just the right time.

Whatever it is, these are the kinds of details that the creative agency should seek out. No matter where you are in your relationship with an agency, they should always be striving to learn new things about your brand.

Look for an agency that asks you about your local market, your target market, your best-selling products, what encouraged you to start your company, and even the specific language that you use when you speak about your brand.

If none of this is happening, and it feels that relationship has become stagnant, then that may be a sign that it’s time to move on.

2. Their UI Design Looks Dated

Yesterday’s award-winning design is today’s too-late-for-the-party. Try and find an agency that is always innovating, and that is not afraid to try new things with their designs.

Web design is constantly evolving, and it’s important that your agency is keeping up to date with what is out there. Want a clue if they are on top of it or not? Check out their Dribbble profile or take a look at what they’re posting on Instagram.

You’ll get a sense if they’re up to date with what’s current and if they’re likely to be able to nail the look you want for your brand. Side note: Some agencies don’t put a lot of effort into their own marketing, so be careful not to judge them too quickly on a lack of content.

Another thing to pay attention to, which is more subtle is their use of animations, such as text and images fades, as well as page transitions. Also, pay attention to the way the navigation and pages flow in their example sites.

If all of these are little things that are either absent or don’t feel like they have been executed tastefully on your behalf, maybe you’re not working with the right web design agency yet.

3. Communication Is Sparse

Do you feel like you hear from your UX Design agency…well, barely at all?

If so, then it’s a sign that maybe you’re not in good hands.

Infrequent communication can usually mean one of three things.

One, that the agency hasn’t actually done anything for you or for your website in months. Two, they’re avoiding telling you something negative. Three, they don’t consider you important as a client, and perhaps they’ve even forgotten about your site altogether.

None of these options are acceptable in any way — for many reasons.

Of course, when you pay for a service, you should expect to receive regular reports about how the changes you’ve made have improved the amount of time users spend on your website. These changes should also lead to an increase in your visitor count and conversion rate, and give you more analytical data to pull from.

But if your agency isn’t taking the time to tell you all these things, it could mean that they’re not doing them.

This means that you have absolutely no idea what the changes that were implemented are actually doing for your website. The whole point of a website design and digital marketing agency is to make the experience of being on your site easier and more engaging for users.

This means that frequent tweaks, research into the demographics of visitors, and even testing things like security need to happen. Same goes for overall mobile-friendliness and site loading time, and just generally caring about improving each and every aspect of your website.

4. Your Site Looks…Familiar

Another reason why now is probably the time to ditch your current UX design agency?

Because you’ve noticed that the design of your website looks suspiciously like the rest of the websites in the agency’s portfolio. Or even worse, the website looks exactly like a WordPress theme you’ve seen before with the logo swapped out!

Now, some version of the may work in certain situations for some clients who want to get a lot done with minimal budget, but it is important that the agency lays it out on the table: In order to achieve x, you will need to sacrifice on Y, and maybe that means using an out-of-the-box template.

Still, doing so is not recommended, and could even reflect poorly on your brand. No one wants to shop or do business with a brand that looks like it’s a carbon copy of another site.

You’re going to want to work with a UX shop that cares about their work. Because if they care about the quality of the work they put out, then as their client your brand will receive the same high level of care and attention.

5. You’re Not Seeing Any Results

The number-one reason why it’s time to move on from your current agency?

Because you’re not seeing any results!

Does your website still take forever to load? Are you still not getting the kinds of customer interaction you’d like to on the local level? Is your blog content not being read, commented on, or shared on social media?

And most of all, is your visitor count still way lower than you’d like it to be?

You don’t hire an agency so that you can keep things the same — you hire professionals to shake things up!

If you’re unhappy with the results you’re seeing –or if you aren’t seeing any at all — it’s time to move on.

Ready For A Better UX Design Agency Experience?

We hope that this post has helped you to better understand the level of service and the kinds of results that you deserve when you choose to work with a UX Design agency.

If you want to work with an agency that will care about your brand, and go above and beyond to deliver a premium web experience on your site, then give us a call! We would love to chat with you about your next project.